Legends Of Gage & Tollner: Reopening Revives Century Of Memories

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — Walking through the Fulton Street building that once held Brooklyn's beloved Gage & Tollner, it isn't hard to tell that more than a century has passed since the historic restaurant first opened in the landmarked space.

The original bar from even before the restaurant moved to 372 Fulton St. in 1892 sits in the still-mirrored dining room. Late 19th-century coat hooks and since-discontinued paneling line the entrance's walls. A golden private dining room bar built in the 1970s sits upstairs.

Even remnants of businesses that passed through since Gage & Tollner closed in 2004 — a nail salon poster on the floor, tattooing equipment in the marble fireplace — can still be found.

"It's sort of like we get to play detective — which is really fun," says Alex Pearson Looney, public relations director with Gage & Tollner's new team. "It's crazy the amount of lives this place has lived."

And, thanks to that team, it's about to live one more.

Brooklyn restauranteurs, St. John Frizell, Ben Schneider and chef Sohui Kim, are nearing the end of their year-long revival of the beloved Brooklyn institution, getting ready to reopen the eatery for the first time since 2004 early next year.

But for the team, part of creating the restaurant's new life has become recounting the lives it led before, when Brooklyn's elite, everyday diners and workers spent decades inside its famed mirrored walls.

That recounting has led to a project Looney is leading called "Legends of Gage & Tollner." She has spent the past few months finding, interviewing and gathering memorabilia from dozens of people who remember Gage & Tollner in its former glory.

The project has surpassed even the new team's wildest expectations, Looney said.

"We knew obviously how much weight this space held for so many people for so long, but hearing so many people's personal stories just makes it really exciting," she said. "We have a lot of really important personal memories to live up to."

Some of those memories include important moments in people's lives, like their wedding rehearsal dinner, bat mitzvah, sweet sixteen or little league championship meal. Or, from former owners' descendants, memories of living in the apartment upstairs while their relatives ran the restaurant.

But others, Looney said, are as simple as a Long Island field trip with just enough cash for a lobster bisque, or a weekly dinner with a husband who has since passed away.

Those memories seem to stand out no less to those that lived them, Looney said.

"[It's] even the tiniest little things — a lot of people came here as kids don't remember what they ate, but they remember the way they felt when they came in," she said. "That's really important to us."

Looney gave Patch a sneak peek at some of the memories that will be included in the Legends project, which will become an oral history collection and possibly in a book about the restaurant down the line.

Here's what she shared:

Clifford Bailey, Los Angeles-based artist and server at Gage & Tollner from 1989-1991

“When I was a student at SVA I lived in Brooklyn Heights, and I needed a job so I applied to wait tables at Gage & Tollner, where I’d heard all the best tips were. I was definitely too young to work there, but they gave me a job anyway and called me “the rookie.” It was a great job for a young kid like me, I absolutely loved it...I have all these amazing memories of the restaurant and the guys who worked there, the transistor radio playing the Yankees game in the basement while veteran staff straightened their bowties and got ready for service…the sidewalk grate overhead that opened to the street, with sunlight shining in and oysters and ice would come pouring down and be caught in a large barrel, and I remember Miguel was the master shucker. But the absolute best was the food, especially the Charleston she-crab soup that Edna Lewis used to make… The staff was allowed to eat that soup as much as they wanted, for free, so I would eat that she-crab soup every day, it was so delicious. Edna was a real celebrity, and people came from all over to see her… she’d always be signing autographs, having news crews following her around. I felt like I was really a part of something happening there. I felt so lucky to get trained as a five-star server at Gage & Tollner.”

J. David Goldin, record producer and radio historian, Gage & Tollner regular since 1974

“I’ve been dining at G&T on and off for 45 years... I would smile at owners Ed Dewey or Peter Ashkenasy when I walked in the door, and they would point me in the direction of Mark, my favorite waiter. He’d see me walking towards the rear and start mixing my usual martini even before I sat down. Gage & Tollner martinis were always perfect. And when Edna Lewis ran the kitchen, she made a stellar fried chicken. Her recipe still sings odes to joy across the decades… subtlety of spices and crispy skin that covered the juicy meat and never fell off the bone… My favorite side dish was always au gratin potatoes. It was bubbling boiling hot in a casserole dish… this is what the tongue and taste buds were created for…
Mark says there was a certain something that customers wanted. It made them return to G&T time after time. This was a sense of family that made this restaurant different from so many others. Sure the excellent food helped, but it was the people who served the customer as much as the food that made you want to come back.”

Andi and Mike Gruber, who held their wedding rehearsal dinner at Gage & Tollner on March 30, 2001

“I moved to Brooklyn in the late 1990’s and fell in love with it, and immediately wanted to embrace everything about the borough. I really loved the old school, classic historical restaurants, the places where you’d go to get the essence of what restaurants were, and essentially what they should be. So Gage & Tollner really appealed to us when we were planning our wedding rehearsal dinner in March 2001.” - Mike Gruber

“Since my in-laws were coming in from Michigan, we really wanted to bring Brooklyn into our wedding and felt there was no better representation of that than Gage & Tollner. And even though it rained a completely insane amount, it was a lovely evening. We both still work in the area and would come and eat at 372 Fulton for years afterwards, even when it was an Arbys!!, just so we could marvel at the space. We can’t wait for this amazing space to be revived as Gage & Tollner once again!” - Andi Gruber

The team is still looking for people to participate in the Legends of Gage & Tollner project. If you have a memory of the restaurant you'd like to share, or would like to learn more, visit the page on their website here.